Easel bracket



Patented Sept. 3, 1929.

UNITED STATES Joan w. 'mxoiv. or MAY'WOOD, rumors.

EASE-L BRACKET.

Application filed October 28, 1927. Serial Ito/229,308.

The easel bracket of the present invention is designed primarily for use in connection with printed or lithographed advertising displays, such as pictures, calendars, or the like, which are printed upon limp paper and hence lack the requisite body or stiffness to render them self-supporting. Displays of this character are ordinarily hung upon a wall, or else mounted on card-board where it is desired to rest them on a counter, table, or other support. 1 i

The easel bracket of the present invention is designed to subserve the double function of affording a stilf reinforcement or backing for connection to the upper and lower edges of a paper display picture or the like, so that, with the'foot of the easel extended, the assembled display can be stood upon a table, counter, or other support.

A further object of the invention is to so construct'the easel bracket that it will be readily collapsible and extensible with a view to its inclusion in a mailing tube with the display picture, advertisement, or-the like, with which it is to be associated.

A further object of the invention is to provide for ready engagement and disengagement of the easel bracket with a display picture which enables the easel bracket to be repeatedly used in connection with display pictures of varying sizes, the bracket being adjustable within considerable limits to varying sizes of display pictures. 1

Further objects and details will appear from a description of the invention in conjunction with the drawing Wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the easel bracket associated with a display picture as viewed from the rear;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a portion of the easel bracket;

Fig. 3 is a rear face view of a portion of the bracket;

Fig. 4: is an edge view of the same with the foot standing in nested relation with the remainder of the bracket;

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing the tongue or tab provided on each binding of the picture display for association with the easel bracket, and

Fig. 6,is a detail cross section taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2. i

As shown, the easel bracket comprises telescoping sections 10 and 11 together with a foot 12 which may be extended rearwardly picture 13 printed on limp paper, fabric, or the like. The sections 10 and 11 are each of channeled formation and each provided with overhanging flanges 14. and 15, respectively,

which nest within one another to afford a telescoping extensible backing bar or reinforcement which may be elongated to the proper length to extend from the top to the bottom of the picture or other display.

The picture is provided with upper and lower metallic binding strips 16, and, as

shown best in Fig. 5, each binding strip has clamped. thereinto a dependin tongue 17 provided with an aperture 18. ach tongue is of a size to socket within the end 11 of the proximate channeled bar section when the latter is extended, as in Fig. 1, the ends being swedged down (see Fig. 2) to narrow the 'width of the channel'which receives the tongue, so that, with theparts thus adjusted,

the otherwise limp display picture, or the like, will bereinforced, as it were, and mounted between upper and lower metallic frames connected by the intermediate bracket struc- "ture of the present invention.

The foot'12 is also of channeled formation provided with side flanges 19 which embrace the outermost of thetwo bar sections composing the extensible bracket, so that the parts will readily nest together for mailing when thefoot is laid flat against the bar sections. The upper end 20 of the foot is obliquely bent backward, so that when the foot is extended,

The foot is provided with an elongated slot 21 near its upper end, and the sections 10 and I '11 are provided with registering slots 22 and 23. The slots 22 and 23 are of a length to afford a considerable range of longitudinal adjustment of the sections with respect to one another, and the slot 21in the foot is of a length to permit the foot to be adjusted to the proper degree to bring its lower end into register with the lower end of the bar section 11 when it is desired to nest the parts together for shipment.

A headed screw-bolt 24 is entered through the registering slots and'its free end receives a thumb-nut 25 which bears against an outer washer 26 which, in conjunction with an inner washer 27, permits the foot to be clamped tightly in place when obliquely extended, as

ing. In mailing the easel bracket may be in-,

serted within the mailing tube around which the display picture is rolled. Upon opening the tube, the easel bracket may be removed, and by loosening the thumb-nut 25, the bar sections 11 and ,12 may be adjusted .to the proper degree to engage with the tongues 17, so that by further extending the bar sections, the .otherwise limp picture display will be extended full length and held stifliy as upon a frame. With the picture. thus mounted, the foot may be extended rearwardly and clamped which completes the adustment of the easel bracket and enables the picture to be stood .upon a counter or the like, ,the upper and lower binding strips possessing sufficient stiffness to hold the picture in flat upstanding position.

The easel bracket is one which may be readily made from stock materials of the character commonly usedfin making telescopic curtain rods, and may be readily associated with-limp pictures of the kind almost universally provided withmetallic binding strips Which usually are provided with tongues similar to 17, for the/purpose of hanging the picture, so that, in the present instance, practically no .modification is required in the customary binding or edging practice to adapt the picture to the requirements of thepresent invention, it being necessary onlythat the lower binding strip, as

well as the upper one, be provided with the usual tongue. In the present instance, the tongue is provided with the usual aperture 18, so that if it is desired to hang the picture on a wall, or the like, the tongue may be bent back into the position dotted lines in Fig. 5.

- The invention is adapted to repeated usage, since the parts may be disassembled by merely unscrewing the thumb-nut, and thereafter indicated by a collapsed for storage or assembly, as occasion may require. The channeled formation of the parts not only enables them to readily nest together and slide within one another but also affords the requisite stiffness of structure which permits the bars to be formed of metal of relatively thin gauge without danger of bending or buckling when in use.

I claim:

1. In an easel bracket, a pair of telescoping bar sections, a foot adapted to be adjusted in obliquely extended relation to the bar sections, said bar sections and foot being of channel formation, nested together and clamping means for clamping the foot in adjusted relation to the bar sections and for clamping the bar sections in telescopically adjusted relation to one another, in combination with a limp display sheet provided at its upper andlower edges with stifi" metallic binding strips detachably secured to the op posite ends of the telescopic bar sections, said ing obliquely bent at its upper end, intermediate the ends of said slot and a clamping device entered through the registering slots in the bar sections and foot, respectively, for clamping the foot in obliquely extended relation. and for clamping the bar sections in telescopically adjusted relation to one another, substantially as described.

3. In an easel bracket, the combination of a pair of telescopically arranged bar sections tering slots, a foot of channeled formation provided with a registering slot, and a clamping device entered through the registering slots in the bar sections and foot, respectively, for clamping the foot in obliquely extended relation and for clamping the bar sections in telescopically adjusted relation to one another, in combination with a limp display picture or the like, provided at its upper and lower edges with stiff metallic binding strips, each strip being provided with a tongue posi tioned to socket within the end of the proximate channeled bar sections when the bar sections are in extended relation, substantially as described. 7

4. In an easel bracket, the combination of a pair of telescopically arranged bar sections of channeled formation provided with registering slots, a foot of channeled formation provided with a' registering slot, the foot being obliquely bent at its upper end, and a no clamping device entered through the registering slots in the bar sections and foot, respectively, for clamping the footin obliquely extended relation and for clamping the bar sections in telescopically adjusted relation to one another, in combination with a limp dis play picture or the like, provided at its upper and lower edges with stiff metallic binding strips, each strip being provided with a tongue positioned to socket within the end of the proximate channeled bar sections when the bar sections are in extended relation, substantially as described.

5. In an easel bracket, the combination of I of channeled formation provided with regisq a pair of telescoping bar sections, each of posed to embrace the outermost of the telescoping bar sections, the upper end of the foot being provided with a slot extending beyond the obliquely bent end, a clamping bolt entered through the registering slots, and a 5 thumb-nut threaded on the bolt for clamping 0 a pair of telescoping bar sections, each of channeled formation, the bar sections being provided with registering slots, a foot obliquely bent at its upper end and provided with side flanges supposed to embrace the 15 outermost of the telescoping bar sections, the

upper end of the foot being provided with a slot, a clamping bolt entered through the registering slots, and a thumb-nut threaded on the bolt for clamping the foot in extended relation and clamping the bar sections in telescopically adjusted relation to one another, in combination with a limp picture display provided with a stiff binding strip at each of its upper and lower edges, each binding strip having an inwardly extending tongue adapted to socket within the end of the proximate channeled bar member when the bar members are telescopically extended to the proper degree, substantially as described.

JOHN DIXON. 

